Tobago to Grenada and Grenadines

Wow, it's been a fair while you guys... well, I can give you all the excuses in the world and they will be always true but I really should just drop a few more phrases here and there for the blog followers... I guess the convenience of Facebook and the easy webalbum updates I have been giving makes me a bit lazy to write on the blog when I have the rare opportunity like this afternoon.

I will start by describing our present situation from Bonaire where the top speed was 17 knots. Moonwalker was loving it, and Russ had a lovely grin on his face. Brisa and I took the chance to read a book and catch up on sleep. We are good at that when we sail! At this very moment Bri is sleeping after falling asleep on the dinghy ride back from a local marina where we went to get water, and Russ is in the hospital with the son of the said marina as he had a bad accident with a piece of glass I am told. I not even noticed Russ was gone as Brisa was running around the courtyard after three very friendly dogs. Therefore I have the boat for myself for a wee while I hope. Can't not even remember the last time I had such peace even if the circumstances are odd!

So where did we last leave you all? Tobago! Yes, lovely Tobago. We had a blast there. Spent a month as we had two weeks by ourselves and another 2 with my uncle Tadeu and his family. It was a very nice place to cruise around. The anchorages are fairly good but some can be rolly with the northerly swell which we had when we arrived in Charloteville. We pretty much seen the entire island and were astounded to discover so few people visited it. Eventually we came to understand why: weather. We were at very end of season to visit it really. As when the infamous “ Christmas Winds” arrive from the Northeast predominately most of the anchorages become unattainable I believe.

To tell you all the truth Russ and I hadn't really done our homework and had no idea these winds were so severe. We discovered when we got to Trinidad to drop my uncle off and ended up being stuck in Trini for over a week – which is probably as much time as you need to be there if you got nothing to do on your boat. It was like, when the weather Gods hear a Christmas Bell they just turn on the fan into maximum! It was 20 to 30 knots daily from North to Northeast.

We managed to score a lighter easterly to just north of east winds on the 27^th December which allowed us to go to Grenada without too much trouble (just a bit of pain in our pockets as we had to pay extra in order to check out of Trinidad on boxing day– super expensive if you ask me at almost US150 for a bit over a month there!) but still with a very unpleasant swell. The plan was to by pass Grenada and anchor in Carriacou and head to the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines as soon as possible but as we approached St Davis Harbour in Grenada the days was coming to an end and the wind was getting stronger and more northerly (in other words right on our nose!). So into St Davis Harbour we went. There we realized there was no way we were going north anytime soon. The weather forecast was very strong winds all the way to the 4^th of January so we headed back down the island to more populated anchorages of Clarks Court and Hog Island. Eventually we settled to spend New Years in Prickly Bay and were very pleasantly surprised to meet many good friends, some from South African times.

Eventually we got a lighter wind forecasted – 15 to 20 – and thought we should give it a try. We decided to take the lee of the island even though it added 10 miles to the trip. The sail up the lee side was good, we had the company of another 10 boats which added to our confidence that we had made a good decision until we got to the end and had a glimpse of the channel to Carriacou... it was white foamy caps of 25 to 30 knots gusts Russ was fumming. He yelled at the winds and to whomever wanted to hear that he had thousands of miles to go so why the f?!@k should he sail up wind so come stupid Caribbean island? Oh well... I told him, as a good girl that I am, that I didn't mind we could just turn back to Grenada and carry on West, no harm done. However Russ kept checking all the other boats coming and everyone was doing it, even Filipe's Trimaram (a nice Italian sailor we had met in Prickly) was there bashing up wind... so Russ bit the bullet and off we went. Every time a wave crashed, the boat bashed or got slapped under Russ would growl... it wasn't a pretty sight. But we did it and anchored for the night in Carriacou. We watched as most of boats entered the same anchorage after us all weather beaten and salty. Russ with a cold beer in his hand exchanged pleasantries with them all from the salty deck.

Next day we moved up the chain into Union Island, still a bashing upwind but Russ seemed a bit more resigned into it and actually had some fun laying out plans wind angles and anchorages we could see while utilizing the wind to our advantage. Well, reality is we hadn't until then, to deal with contrary winds! Quite astounding I know. So I was a whole different game. We anchored on the lee side of Union, for the night and next morning we checked into the Grenadines by going into the crowded and tight harbour there. Winds were still hauling at 20 to 25 constantly. We moved after checking in, as Russ didn't want to stay there, to Petite Martinique, which was actually back tracking a bit but a good wind angle and not so bad with the high running swell. Next day the angle was good to sail into Tobago Cays.

The Cays is very pretty with picture perfect anchorages, beaches and turquoise waters but crowded. The wind was relentless and everyone was bashing in the main anchorage area of Horseshoe Reef so we decided to check our luck in between the two islands right behind it and managed to tuck ourselves off the main channel up against the shallow waters of the beach. It was paradise. Lovely beach just next door, off the strong wind and still. It was great. But the weather made snorkeling a pain with its constant chop and going out on the reef was pretty hard. So after 3 days we packed our stuff and moved on. Probably the coolest thing we saw was the biggest cruising catamaran in the world called Hemisphere. It is 120ft and looked enormous, but that is all it was, a very big cat. Not quite the statement we expected when we hear about a boat with that title. Russ made me visualize a down scaled hemisphere, and asked if I thought it was a nice boat. I had to agree with him it wasn't such an interesting boat after all. But man, it was big and flash...

We eventually returned to Grenada via the windward side in order to visit the Salina Islands off Carriacou. There we had an incredible time, with the anchorage just to ourselves, beautiful beach and water loaded with turtles. It was quite amazing to think that just a few miles north we had to share anchorages with dozens of boats. It was a great tip from an Irish sailor we met in Brazil.

In Grenada we did a good stock up bought a couple of guides for Venezuela and ABC islands – say whatever you want to say about cruisers net, but the Grenada net on VHF is absolute priceless and incredibly helpful in all matters so good on them (channel 68 at 730 am local time) – and off we went against everyones advice to the Venezuelan Off – Shore Islands!           

Cabedelo to Tobago

So much happens when you are on the move... since my last post it feels like an year has passed by and not a month!

We carried on up the coast with the ever lasting hope that the seas would be gentle on us and especially Brisa. No way Jose... only when we got around the top and started heading northwest that the seas gave us a break. But we stopped a long the way and broke the trip nicely for Brisa and all onboard.

Cabedelo was good for resting and stocking up. Not much of a city really, but met some lovely people and get most things organized, including patching the code zero which was poked after the Atlantic crossing. Brisa enjoyed the little pool that Phillipe provided at his marina. We stayed at anchor but payed to use the facilities for a week. We explored a bit, even managed to go to the local shopping mall, which was nice and made plenty of contacts whom we are now seeing again here in the Caribbean.

Cabedelo to Natal was a quick passage, windy and with a hairy harbour entrance but once again well worth the stop. Only 3 days to rest, enjoy the local pool (again... we all have wrinkly fingers contantly as Bri just loves  it) and Russ made up his mind to finally put the new main up - yes we have been carring the new one for 8 months for godness sake!!! We donated the old one to another catamaran at the marina, the owner Luiz was beside himself with happiness! So I guess our main found a good home, she deserves it for sure.

Natal to Fortaleza was a great passage after we went around the corner of Brazil into "Caribbean waters". The marina in Fortaleza was shit but the manager was lovely and so was the facilities of the hotel, so it made up for the shitty pier. We ended up staying for 4 days. Fortaleza didn´t appealed to us at all. We felt quite insecure actually and didn´t venture much walking.

We left Fortaleza with good winds and in the company of a Brazilian boat called Maruja. Brisa was very taken with Hugo and Catarina, callling them both Vovô constantly. We said our goodbyes and hoped to see them in Salut Islands. We didn´t know how things would pan out with Brisa if the seas were rough so we had a side plan with another anchorage in mind after 450 miles (of the 1100 we had to cover). But the trip was wonderfully uneventful and Moonwalker was on its elements with light constant trade winds. We covered the 1100 miles in just over 5 days.

Salut Isles were lovely, with a dreadful past as the infamous Pappilon Prison of Devil´s Island (which you arenot allowed to visit). We visited the other islands, were very welcomed by all, including the local policemen and the French Foreign Legion represententative whom invited us for a BBQ at his place.  No photos allowed though.

Brisa enjoyed the wild life and the chooks - she is adicted to her Cocoricó dvd which have 3 very friendly chooks. We left for Tobago after 5 days on the 10th of November and covered the next 600 miles 3.5 days  of all sorts of weather, many squalls on the convergence zone but a pleasant passage nonetheless. Brisa was a bit over it but was rewarded with beautiful mountains covered in lush rainforest, birds galore and clean waters when she woke up at the anchorage in Charloteville in the northeast of the island.

We have been in Tobago for over a week and are fully enjoying the laid back, still 3rd world feel of the place. People are as dark as the night with a smile to dazzle and blind you. Reasonable priced and with surf for Russ, reef and clean waters for Karin and plenty of sand and rocks to be thrown, chewed and kneeded at the beach for Brisa... so we are happy campers.

CARIBBEAN HERE WE ARE!!!!

Still up the coast of Brazil

We left St Andre, healed and ready for the seas again, carrying on to some of the loviest places we visited in Brazil. Camamu and Tinharé Island with many picturesque places, with many old churches and simple living.

Salvador was a bit of a disappointment, very dirty and ugly. The historical town was incredible though. We took Moonwalker up the river to Maragojipe and thought Baia de Todos os Santos was very nice and welcoming. Itaparica had quite a sailing scene. Mostly of yachties that got there and never left.

We moved up the coast to the lovely surprise of Maceió. We had heard so many bad things about the place we were a bit aprehensive of visiting, and although the reports on the dirtyness of the anchorage and landing were accurate the town itself was lovely. We had a great time there with Valéria em and kids. My brother showed up as a surprise towards the end of the week and we had a lovely time together. This was good bye from them and we kind of managed to convince them that the next visit will be theirs to NZ. We need to keep our kids in touch! Valentina and Brisa got on like a house on fire and loved their time together. Brisa was her usual tick to Eryk and Valéria, she simply adores them! It´s quite amazing to see.

Now we are a couple of anchorages up the coast, passed through Suape and it´s brand new port and ship building facilities with cranes we could see over 15 miles out to sea! We are now in a place called Itamaracá, by the Orange Fort built by the dutch when they tried to claim a piece of Brazil, they actually managed to control parts of the coast for over 50 years. They left quite a mark around, not only buildings but plenty of blond kids and light eyes.

We are now heading to Cabedelo by João Pessoa (which is supposed to be a lovely city) and then Natal a city I haven´t visited in over 15 years! I am hoping to take Russ and Brisa on a buggy ride on the sand dunes of Genipabu. After Natal we are still deciding, but probably Fortaleza and Lençóis Maranhenses are in sight before we head to Devil´s Island in French Guiana.

The good news is that my uncle Tadeu is coming with his family to visit in Tobago! It will be awesome as he has done a circumnavigation over 15 years ago and has since settled inland with a lovely lady and has a 3 year old daughter called Helena Moana. Quite an honour to have him onboard! I am very excited!

As for Brisa, she is coping much better on the crossings. Sea state is still a bit unsettled but getting better as we head north. Wind still good, and we are all getting into the rhythm of sailing and adjusting ourselves to life on the go. Brisa is loving the warm water and is getting confident by the day on the water. She jumps herself into the deeper water and is unmoved about having her head under the water, but we still have to rescue her... a bit of a worry but nice to see how excited she is in the water.

Plenty of photos on the webalbum guys, just click on the photo of Moonwalker on the left side of the blog and choose the album you want to see.

From Rio de Janeiro to Bahia

How can I put it mildly? This last month was probably the most trying month we have had so far.

We finally started moving north, leaving the easy, gentle and familiar the southern shores of Rio state and moved on, passing through Cabo Frio and Búzios which were charming but with unconfortable anchorages and messy seas. The swell seemed to come from all sorts of directions.

We ventured our first overnight passage with Brisa and in our inexperience in sailing with a kid, delivered her to Vitória in Espirito Santo state with a cold for placing her little mattress on the floor of the pod. She has since been upgraded to the couch where she has a much smaller bed because of all the cushions but she seems much happier.

We arrived in Vitória as it´s the Capital of the state where most of my family is from. It´s quite weird, I walk around the neighbourhood and see streets with my surname Calmon (my mother´s surname). Then I go up the mountains where the other half of my family is from (Dalcolmo) and find that pretty much 2/3 of the town is somehow related to me. It´s strangely familiar eventhough I never lived in these area of the country.

However what brought me back this time was to finally introduce my husband to my grandmother Agatha. At 89, I had cheekily asked her to “hold on” until I arrived with Russ so I could introduce him and get her blessings. And so it was... She met Russ on her hospital bed, had a “chat” to him on which he held her hands and tried with his best Portuguese to be our lovely Russell to her. She smiled and trully enjoyed the moment to the best of her capabilities. A week later she passed on. It was good to have the closure of seeing it full circle and being there for my whanau. They needed me as much as I needed them.

With that we moved on up the coast, waiting for the brunt of the first day of a southerly front to pass and then made our move north. It was, to say the least, unpleasant. The swell came from all directions, but the wind was good and Moonwalker plodded along with Russ trying to hold our speed to around 7 knots as the waters where literally infested with humpback whales as these are the months they come from Antartica to raise their youth and make them plump for their trip south. Very much like in Vava´u in Tonga.

Brisa didn´t take the first 24 hours very well and got very seasick. It was disheartening and made for the unfailable question to burn in our minds: “ should we carry on sailing with a sea sick child?” Just so you can get the measure of how bad it was, it was the first time I heard Russ voicing to himself “ ...so this is the end of our sailing days...”. But like the wind, thoughts and bad moments come and go, and the next day Brisa was happy as larry, watching the whales, enchated with their giant flapping fins and gracious diving tails in the air. Although it made Russ more apprehensive then ever, seeing so many whales was very soothing and made the bad moments seem a distant past.

As the winds were dying we decided to spend a night in an arquipelago off the coast called “ Abrolhos” (“open your eyes”) where there were as many birds as there were goats ashore... it is a national park so it was beyond me why they were there until I saw that the Navy symbol on the island was a goat. The water was not clear because of the swell so not much of a diving experience.

Next day we carried on to St André, in Bahia state where we finally found a flat anchorage for the first time since we left Rio de Janeiro. So we are letting the Bahia waters, Axé music and cold beers soothe our minds and souls and help with Brisa´s and Russ´ teeth!!! Brisa has 4 molars coming all at once for the last week and Russ took a wisdom tooth out and it´s not healing very well so we will take our time here and enjoy the historical sites around. Historical because this area was the first landing of Pedro Alvares Cabral, the Portuguese navigator credited with “finding” Brazil.  

Paraty & Us

Life goes fast when we are having fun, especially when you are having loads of it....

The webalbum has been a better update than this blog I must confess, I have been quite good at uploading photos there but not much going on in terms of writing. Far too much to tell, too little time and a little 1 year old girl that has an immense amount of energy and has a fondness to keyboards and is not gentle with them... so I have delayed and delayed until I could not delay anylonger. And yes, Brisa is 1 year old already.

Quite unreal to say the least, I have hardly got used to the idea of being a mum (I still catch myself looking at Brisa and going: Who is this kid?), let alone looking after a child for an entire year successfully (we are all alive and well!) and gee, there she is clapping her hands and demanding another Happy Birthday sang to her! You gotta clap otherwise you are in deep sh#$t mate.

Just on a rapid note on what´s been going on with us before I go back to the little princess...:

We had some amazing times in Ilha Grande, it´s a superb place but Russ needed a sailors fix, finding people a bit like him you know, talk about boats all the time, speak the same language and all that jazz. So we decided to try Paraty. Ah sweet darling Paraty.... what a delightful surprise.

In my very damaged memory, Paraty was a hot, stinky and sticky place to be, historical yes, world heritage status, yes, but stinky and sticky nonetheless and with very corrupt traffic cops. Well we arrived in the winter, and by sea which mean two things: no corrupt traffic cops and no smelly stuff as it´s winter and not hot at all, I even dare say it´s rather chilly for Brazilian standards.  And the place is full of sailors of all sorts! Russ finally found his place. Do I have to mention that here as well is made some of the best cachaça (sugar cane spirit used to do caipirinhas - Russ´ favorite drink) in Brazil? Russ has found his place and it´s hard to move him from here... I have tried to convince him to go to Ubatuba, and even Ilha Bela as there is the sailing week happening there at the moment, but he said no, and we went sailing in Saco do Mamanguá for 3 days instead.... no one around, lovely sail, amazing sunny days but not hot and stary nights...

Paraty is a historical town and the locals are doing an esplendid job of maintaining it. It´s simply gorgeous. To add to it is a string of cultural events of all sorts constantly happening. In any given day or night there are all types of music floating down the streets from some pub or restaurant. Even the main street has speakers with lovely national music!

So we beg you to have a look at the photos, Russ did a good job of photographing the old town and recent events.

The bigggest of all being Brisa´s 1st birthday which we celebrated with over 30 friends and relatives from all different parts of the country. It was a memorable 4 days with lots of laugh, love and play. Brisa was an absolute star and enjoyed and was enjoyed by everyone. There are some great photos and some videos on utube.

She is now fully walking for over a month and everyone is very impressed on how she has developed. She is a funloving child with a ready toothy smile.

We now have Enzo my nephew for the next week as he is on his winter school holidays and he has declared to all that he will be a sailor like uncle Russ. Even my niece Valentina (1.9mths), as friday comes, gathers her things and start pointing to the door and saying: Rus, Bri , Ka.... it´s been just amazing spending all these time with my brother and family. We will miss them terribly...

Well, it is a fact, we will be leaving soon, going up the coast and all but we hope many people will still visit and stay with us until we leave the country around November. It will be hard but we got much to look forward to.

Ah, and Moonwalker, well he is enjoying the rest, the light breezes and gentleness of the weather, but not so much the messy kids. Russ reckons we will never go hungry as at any given moment we can find plenty of food lying somewhere onboard thanks to Brisa. We can never catch up to her mess. Russ sighs when he remembers Moonwalker on our childless days, spotless, white, smooth (not sticky and with suspitious puddles everywhere)... ce la vie mon cherrie....(I am practising for the Pacific you know....)

First month of Brazil

We´ve been in Brazil now for almost a month and we have experienced so much it feels like an year already! We have had many visitors and caught up with many from our family.

The reception, attention and love received has been overwhelming, not only from our family but from many of our blog followers!  It´s quite humbling to have so many people so excited in seeing Moonwalker and its crew... they share our dream and dramas and even though I am a bellow average blogger they are loyal and patient, waiting for my updates and photos. Its quite inspiring as we, that live onboard and lead this life, take things for granted most times and don´t quite see what it so special about it.

Myself personally am one of the most skepticals about it... people keep saying I should write a book or something about your lives etc, and I can´t quite see what people think is so interesting about our lives or experiences. Brazil has kind of opened my eyes a bit about the charmed and unique life we live. I kept thinking: “ we are just another couple sailing around” but the sheer discrepancy in numbers of the “doing”, “wanna dos” against the “landlubbers” here, and actually everywhere in the world, is gigantic! People are truly fascinated with what we do and what we see.

One reason I can see is that most Brazilians are connected to the net, not just for emails and work, but they see it as a mobile entertainment and information gate they seek daily. We are over 130 million people guys... it´s a lot of people if you get my gist. They read and access information very easily, especially now with the translating tools available.

A classic example: Russ went to this mechanical shop, that fixes water pumps, water blasters and other related things. He was trying to explain what he wanted and the mechanic guys behind the counter asked him to wait for a sec, picked up a laptop, went into some program online and got Russ to speak to the computer. Russ finding it quite funny said to the computer what he wanted and the computer translated to the boy behind the counter to the amusement of not only Russ but everyone in the shop. There you go, done. My own brother, the biggest geek I have ever known, came up with his flash Google phone and got Russ to speak to the phone too, so it could translate for him... lazy f@#k. Anyhow, the thing needs the internet connection so I make sure we got none so Eryk gets to speak English a bit more. Actually his English is fine and Russ´ Portuguese is getting much better, especially after a few caipirinhas!

We stayed in Rio for 2 weeks, mostly at anchor in Urca, a little heaven in Rio de Janeiro. Very safe and accessible. There we had absolutely everything we needed and Brisa became a local at the kids playground and waterfront. We befriended another couple living on their boat for 12 years. They are from Brazil and have never left the country on their boat, they are perfectly happy to cruise around these areas at their own pace. They were a fountain of local knowledge and very entertaining.

We actually met them because our anchor got stuck… yes… 8 meters of Guanabara´s  Bay water… oh boy. Webber was going to hire a scuba tank to clean the bottom of his boat so he said he would help with the anchor, our savior! It was all a bit nerve racking but we got there in the end.

We had quite a few visitors while in Rio and our time there was incredibly pleasurable. Russ said he would even go back! Now that´s something! We were anchored in quite an amazing place really, just below the sugar loaf and with an amazing view of the Corcovado (the Christ up on the hill) and the main beaches of the inner bay, Flamengo and Botafogo.

We did a bit of an expedition into the Bay and visited the island of Paquetá, a very quiet place without cars right in the middle of the Bay. Unfortunately it was raining so not the best of times.

Now we are anchored in Ilha Grande, an island paradise just 60 nautical miles south west of Rio... it is heaven people, just heaven... and I haven´t even gone for a dive or tried to fish. And there are plenty around for what I see just from above water.

Russ has finally caught up with most work that needed to be done and so have I, so we are now, only now, starting to relax into our time after being so long living ashore (for Brisa and I) and after a long passage (for Russ). We got lots to look forward to, so much to see, but we are very excited about the approaching family gathering in Paraty, just another 30 miles south, still in the same big bay that hosts Ilha Grande. We will celebrate Brisa´s 1st birthday with many friends and family coming from all over the country. We have hired a Pousada (guest house) which has a marina in front so we could put Moonwalker there and enjoy the 4 days of holiday planned as it is Corpus Christi holiday – you got to love these Catholic countries... the fun starts on the 22nd and goes all the way to the 27th of June! 

After that we travel a bit more around this area then extend Russ´ visa for another 3 months and start heading up the coast aiming to be in the Caribbean for Christmas.

Yes, you guys, we are heading home... slowly but surely. Be there by end of 2012. No work, just fun from here on. 

So if you were planning to visit... NOW IS GOOD!

Russ is here! Actually he has been here over a week but internet troubles, a burocratic but friendly entrance to the country, a sick daughter, and the facility of sending news from facebook made us a bit lazy... Regardless we are here even if writing from a mobile! Russell´s trip was nothing short of remarkable: 12.5 days from St Helena to Angra dos Reis! He covered the Atlantic in a total of 21.5 days, wonder what they would have done if they had come straight. By the sounds of it, St Helena is worth the detour. I will endeavour to have Russ type his own report on the trip, but i can advance it was a beauty. They hit the brazilian coast at Cabo Frio and covered 55 miles under Moonwalkers new kite in 5 hours until Rio where they had to turn on the motors for the following 60 miles to Angra. The only other time they used the engine was to avoid oil platforms of Macae coast in Rio. By far the most dangerous part was entering Angra during Easter time! Brazilian yachtsmen are notorious for their slack attitude to boating rules and Russ saw himself in troubled waters amongst motor yachts going 4 abreast giving no room to him (probably because they didn`t even see him). Easter over Angra was paradise. Checking in was easy and friendly, people are lovely and Brisa is by far our best ambassador. She has been sick with seasonal allergies causing lots of coffs and full chest. Her nose looks like a water tap when we take her for a swim in the sea which she adores. We had my brother and family onboard twice and my uncle Giovanni had a peep when he dropped me off. Next weekend should be fun when we go to Rio to catch up with other family and have a peep at the Rio Boat Show. Another very nice episode was being recognised! Brazilian boaties whom follow our blog were here and came to welcome us to Brazil and wish us luck on our travels. A proud moment for Moonwalker and crew!